Directions for Reading.
As "Caesar," though in many respects a book for advanced students, is often the first Latin classic put into the learner's hands, it may be well to give a few hints as to the method of study.
1. Before beginning to read, the learner should be familiar with the forms of Inflection, the simpler rules of Agreement and Construction of Cases and Moods (A. & G. Grammar, pp. 381 ff.; G., pp. 437 ff.; H. 558), and the Definitions contained in § 171-180; G. 201-209; H. 345-361.
2. Notice at once the inflectional terminations, so that the number, case, tense, person, etc., — which show the corresponding relations of the words and ideas to each other, — may be present to your mind. If the form of the word gives several possibilities, hold them all in your mind, so far as may be, till something occurs in the progress of the sentence to settle the doubt.
3. Always try to take in the ideas in that order in which the Latin presents them. Read every word as if it were the last on a page and you had to turn over without being able to turn back. The mind soon becomes accustomed to the order of any language, as we see by the constant and almost unnoticed inversions of common speech and poetry. If, however, you are obliged to turn back, begin again at the beginning of the sentence and proceed as before. The greatest difficulty to a beginner is his inability to remember the first parts of a complex idea. This difficulty can often be lessened by jotting down, in a loose kind of English, the words as they come in the Latin. In this way it is often easy to see what a string of words
must mean, though we should never say anything like it in English.
4. Don't try to
translate formally until you have got a complete
idea of some
integral part of the sentence. It makes nonsense to render words mechanically, without thinking the corresponding ideas.
5. From the outset, notice that the emphatic position of words plays a most important part in Latin writing, and try to feel the emphasis Of position as you read. (See Grammar, ch. 6, p. 386, and compare G. 671-687; H. 559-573.)
As an illustration of § 5 we append a translation of the first chapter of Book II with especial reference to the emphasis indicated by the order. As the translation is made expressly to bring out explicitly the force of order, it should not be taken as a model of desirable translation. Such a translation as is here given forces the emphasis on the attention more than is perhaps natural in English. The force is all present in the Latin, but in English it may often he left to be brought out by the context or by some kindred emphasis which the English substitutes. A short, easy passage from Book V is also given without comment for study and practice.
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| And BEING1 thus in Hither2 Gaul, as I have shown above,
CAESAR3 had FREQUENT4 rumors brought to him,5 and DESPATCHES6 also from LABIENUS7 continued to inform him that ALL8 the BELGAE,9 who
constituted a third part 10 of [the whole of] Gaul, as I had [previously] stated, were conspiring [for an attack] against the Roman government11 and exchanging hostages. That for THIS CONSPIRACY12 the reasons were
these, 13 namely: in the first place, because THEY WERE AFRAID14 (i.e. in their own minds) that
when Gaul was ALL15
subdued, 16 our army would be brought against them17; and in the second place,
because some18 of the
Gauls19 (i.e. from outside) were tampering20 with them. These Gauls were PARTLY those who were disturbed that the ROMAN21 army should pass the winter22 and get a23 footing in Gaul, just as24 they had been unwilling that the
GERMANS25 should stay any
longer26 there, and PARTLY
those who from [mere] fickleness27 and unsteadiness28 were [always] eager for new29 forms of government; [they were stimulated] by SOME also besides, who, inasmuch as in Gaul 30 regal power was regularly usurped by the more powerful31 and by those who had means to
employ soldiers,32could not so easily33 succeed in such usurpations34 under our imperial control.35 | Cum esset Caesar in citeriôre Galliâ, ita utî
suprâ dêmônstrâvimus, crêbrî ad eum
rûmôrês adferêbantur, litterîsque item
Labiênî certior fîêbat omnîs Belgâs, quam
tertiam esse Galliae partem dîxerâmus, contrâ populum
Rômânum coniûrâre obsidêsque inter sê dare.
Coniûrandî hâs esse causâs: prîmum quod
verêrentur nê omnî pâcâtâ Galliâ ad
eôs exercitus noster addûcerêtur; deinde quod ab nôn
nûllîs Gallîs sollicitârentur, — partim quî, ut
Germânôs diûtius in Galliâ versârî
nôluerant, ita populî Rômânî exercitum
hiemâre atque inveterâscere in Galliâ molestê
ferêbant; partim quî môbilitâte et levitâte
animî novîs imperiîs studêbant, — ab nôn
nûllîs etiam, quod in Galliâ â potentiôribus
atque eîs quî ad conûcendôs hominês
facultâtîs habêbant volgô rêgna
occupâbantur, quî minus facile eam rem imperiô nostrô
cônsequî poterant. |
| 5.23. AFTER TAKING HOSTAGES he lead his army back to the sea [where
he] found the ships repaired. HAVING LAUNCHED THEM, inasmuch as he had
a great number of captives, and some of the ships had been lost
in the storm, he proceeded to transport his army in two voyages. And [fortunately] it so HAPPENED that out of so many ships in so
many voyages not a single one was lost that carried soldiers
either that year or the year before, while of THE SHIPS which
were sent back to him empty from the continent after discharging the soldiers
of the first voyage, as well as of the seventy others that Labienus had built
later, very few reached their destination. Almost all the rest
were driven back. | Obsidibus acceptîs exercitum redûcit ad mare, nâvîs
invenit refectâs. Hîs dêductîs, quod et
captîvôrum magnum numerum habêbat, et nôn nûllae
tempestâte dêperierant nâvês, duôbus
commeâtibus exercitum reportâre înstituit. Âc
sîc accidit utî ex tantô nâvium numerô, tot
nâvigâtiônibus, neque hôc neque superiôre
annô ûlla omnînô nâvis quae mîlitês
portâret dêsîderârêtur; at ex eîs quae
inânês ex continentî ad eum remitterentur, [et] priôris
commeâtûs expositîs mîlitibus, et quâs
posteâ Labiênus faciendâs cûrâverat numerô
LX, perpaucae locum caperent; reliquae ferê omnês
rêicerentur. |
